Kidney Stones and Urinary Crystals: An Overview

Chapter-I gives a general introduction to different urinary crystals and tries to justify the details on gel growth of urinary crystals. A brief history of gel growth technique as well as the urinary stone problem is presented. Chapter-II briefly reviews urinary calculi. In this chapter different types of urinary calculi; a brief review on human urinary system; different types of urinary stone analysis; factors affecting the growth of urinary stones in a body; various theories of urinary calculi growth; the effect of different inhibitors, promoters and complexors on the growth of urinary calculi; the composition of urine and a brief review of urinary calculi treatment are covered. Chapter-III briefly reviews the gel growth techniques. In this chapter types of gel, gel structures gelling mechanism, gel properties and different types of get methods are briefly discussed. Apart from this, a relevant literature survey is incorporated with advantages and disadvantages of the gel growth technique.